“Shef better than TEF” campaign continues to gather momentum

The University of Sheffield student union’s fight against further rises in tuition fees “Shef better than TEF” has gained support following a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor.

An open letter with over 2000 signatures was taken to the Vice-Chancellor, Keith Burnett, by the Student Union president and education officer earlier this month in an attempt to persuade him to opt out of the controversial Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) proposal.

A further meeting with the Vice-Chancellor is scheduled for next week.

Dom Trendall, President of the Student Union, said: “It’s an uphill battle, but I’m definitely hopeful that we can get some compromise and we will be a bit happier than would be if we hadn’t done the campaign.”

“It’s fair to say the Vice-Chancellor is supportive of the message. The issue comes in with the connection into fees. In terms of the Teaching Excellence Framework itself I think we have an agreement with the University.”

The TEF proposal will see a rise of fees directly related to the quality of teaching.

Universities that are seen to be meeting the standards of the framework will be able to raise their tuition fees accordingly, starting with a rise from £9000 to £9250 for the 2017/18 academic year.